Minister of State for Education, Culture and Tourism Priya Sethi on Sunday called for more participation of younger generation in sporting activity and asks the youth to take up sports to lead a healthy and disciplined life.The Minister was speaking during inaugural ceremony of 11th Christmas Gold Cup Football Tournament at GGM Science College here today.The tournament was organized by All J&K Christian Welfare Association under J&K Football Association.Priya said that India is the nation of young people and there is no better medium than sports for channelizing the young energies in a right direction.Emphasizing on the important role of private sports organizations in promoting sports talents, Priya called for synergy between the government and private organizations for growth of sports in State that will ultimately result in scouting sports talents and providing them a better platform for honing their skills. “Such tournaments encouraged and lay platform for local players to play at higher levels,” she added.Highlighting Government’s several initiatives, the Minister said that various reformative steps are being taken up by the Government for providing necessary sports facilities and opportunities to nurture the sports talent in the State, the Minister maintained.“Government will carry forward its resolve in the upcoming years for upgrading the sports infrastructure in the State,” the Minister said.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address from Mann Ki Baat programme, the Minister said that it is important to encourage youth to play football as it is one of the world’s biggest and most watched sports. With India hosted the FIFA U-17 world cup has certainly encouraged more youngsters in the country to see a bright future in this sport.She welcomed the initiative of government for launching Mission 11 million that aimed towards taking the game to 12,000 schools in 37 cities across the country.The Minister praised the organizers for conducting such type of events which will help the sports persons to further improve their talent. She also interacted with the players and wished them a great success. Organizers hailed the Minister for encouraging the sport.Prominent among others who were present on the occasion were Director Radio Kashmir Jammu, Anjali Sharma, Rev. Udai Singh, Presbyter-in-charge St. Paul's Church, Jammu, Commandant, CRPF, Surinder Mehra, President ,JKFA, Zameer A Thakur, Vice-President JKFA, Surinder Singh Bunty, Ex-MLC S.M Gill, Fayaz Ahmed, David Don besides senior functionaries of Football association along with various sports personalities.